High power semiconductor device for wireless applications and method of forming a high power semiconductor device

ABSTRACT

A high power semiconductor device for operation at powers greater than 5 watts for wireless applications comprises a semiconductor substrate including an active area of the high power semiconductor device, contact regions formed on the semiconductor substrate providing contacts to the active area of the high power semiconductor device, a dielectric layer formed over a part of the semiconductor substrate, a lead for providing an external connection to the high power semiconductor device and an impedance matching network formed on the semiconductor substrate between the active area of the high power semiconductor device and the lead. The impedance matching network includes conductor lines formed on the dielectric layer. The conductor lines are coupled to the contact regions for providing high power connections to the contact regions of the active area, and have a predetermined inductance for impedance matching.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to high power semiconductor devices for wirelessapplications and methods of forming high power semiconductor devices forwireless applications.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

High power semiconductor devices, such as high power transistor devicesand high power Integrated Circuits (ICs), are used in wireless devicesand systems that are required to operate at high powers. For example,high power RF transistor devices are used in power amplifier devices ofbase stations of a cellular network and are required to have anoperating range from greater than 5 Watts to several hundreds of Wattsand at frequencies from a few MHz to several GHz.

Traditionally, the active area of the high power RF transistor device isformed on a semiconductor substrate and wires or wire bonds are used toconnect the active area of the device to the input and output leadswhich form the external connections of the device and to impedancematching components in output and input impedance matching networks. Theimpedance matching networks are used in order to increase the input andoutput impedances of the power RF transistor device and bring them asclose as possible to the required impedance (50 Ω) over the operatingpower and frequency range. Impedance matching networks typically includecapacitors that are generally printed on a semiconductor or insulatingsubstrate and also, the wire bonds themselves which not only act asconnections but also as inductors in the output and input impedancematching networks. The inductance of a wire bond is determined by thelength, height and shape of the wire bond and the coupling betweenneighbouring wire bonds. Thus, the configuration of the wire bonds isselected along with the configuration of the other impedance matchingcomponents to ensure proper impedance matching at the input and outputof the power RF transistor device. As an example, a 120/150 W powertransistor device at 2 GHz requires currently more than 100 wire bondsof predetermined heights, lengths and shapes.

At high power and frequencies, any variations in the actual value ofeach inductor formed by each of the wire bonds, as well as the couplingwith adjacent wire bonds, can affect the impedance matching provided bythe impedance matching networks and hence the performance of the powerdevice. Thus, in order to optimise the performance of a power device,the configuration (e.g. height, length and shape) of the wire bondsneeds to be well controlled during manufacturing.

As new wireless communication systems are requiring more stringent andmore repeatable performances to cope with linearized and high efficiencyamplifier architectures, in order to meet the requirements of suchsystems, the amount by which variations in the actual inductance of thewire bonds due to manufacturing tolerances are acceptable will bereduced. For example, variations in the inductance of wire bonds formedby a wire bonding tool having a tolerance of +/− 50 μm (which is not anuntypical level of tolerance for current tools) may result in the devicefailing the requirements of new systems.

An article entitled ‘Passive Integration on Si for RF Circuits inWireless Applications’ by N J. Pulsford, J T M. van Beek, M H W M. vanDelden, A. Boogaard, and R F. Milsom in Microwave Symposium Digest, 1999IEEE MTT-S International, Volume 4, Issue 1999, Page(s): 1897-1900describes integrating high quality factor inductors and capacitors on ahigh ohmic silicon substrate to form a passive integration die so as toprovide the possibility of integrated low loss resonator and matchingcircuits in RF wireless applications. Such an arrangement includes abottom metal layer (200 nm) formed on the high ohmic silicon substrate,a thin dielectric layer (200 nm) and a top metal layer (7 μm) formedover the dielectric layer. No active devices are integrated in the highohmic silicon substrate. The passive integration die is combined withthe active silicon die using standard multi-die packaging techniques.

By integrating the inductors and capacitors on a separate high ohmic dieto the active area, a higher Q factor can be achieved which improvesdevice performance. However, such an arrangement requires two separatedies with one die being formed of high ohmic silicon. This increases thecost and complexity of manufacture of such a device. Furthermore, thedescribed integrated arrangement provides sufficient low lossperformance due to the high ohmic substrate when the operating power islow (<3 W), but the dielectric and resistive losses of such anarrangement would be too high for higher powers (>5 W) due to the lossesthrough the 200 nm dielectric layer and 7 μm metal line and so thisarrangement of integrating inductors onto a die cannot be used in highpower devices operating at powers greater than 5 W.

An article entitled ‘Compact InP HBT Power Amplifiers Using IntegratedThick BCB Dielectrics’ by J. Hacker, W. Ha, C. Hillman, M. Urteaga, R.Pierson and B. Brar describes using 15 μm thick layers ofbenzocyclobutane (BCB) dielectric to provide low loss millimeter-wavetransmission lines with much smaller dimensions compared to conventionalmicrostrip placed directly on the semiconductor substrate. The describedtechnique is applied to low power (1.1 W) integrated circuits and cannotbe used for high power devices (>5 W) for which resistive losses will betoo high due to the thin metal layers (μm range or less). Thus, such anarrangement cannot be used in high power devices operating at powersgreater than 5 W.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a high power semiconductor device forwireless applications and a method of forming a high power semiconductordevice for wireless applications as described in the accompanyingclaims.

Specific embodiments of the invention are set forth in the dependentclaims.

These and other aspects of the disclosure will be apparent from andelucidated with reference to the embodiments described hereinafter.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Further details, aspects and embodiments of the disclosure will bedescribed, by way of example only, with reference to the drawings.Elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity andhave not necessarily been drawn to scale.

FIG. 1 is a simplified diagram of a top view of part of a known highpower semiconductor device.

FIG. 2 a simplified equivalent electrical circuit diagram of the highpower semiconductor device shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a simplified cross-sectional view of a part of the high powersemiconductor device shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a simplified cross-sectional view of a part of an example highpower semiconductor device in accordance with an embodiment of thedisclosure.

FIG. 5 is a simplified diagram of a top view of part of the example highpower semiconductor device in accordance with an embodiment of thedisclosure, part of which is shown in FIG. 4.

FIG. 6 is a simplified top view diagram of examples of part of the highpower semiconductor device shown in FIG. 4 showing the conductor lineshaving different shapes.

FIGS. 7-11 are schematic cross-section diagrams of a portion of the highpower semiconductor device of FIG. 4 during different stages offabrication according to an example method in accordance with anembodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 12 is a graph showing the variation of the Q factor with frequencyfor a conductor line formed in accordance with the method shown in FIGS.7-11.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the description that follows and in the Figures, certain regions areidentified as being of a particular material, conductivity and/or type.However, this is merely for convenience of explanation and not intendedto be limiting. Those of skill in the art will understand based on thedescription given herein that various semiconductor materials can beused and that the doping of various regions of the device may be alteredin order to obtain different device functions.

The present disclosure will be described with reference to a high powerRF transistor device. It will be appreciated that the disclosure is notlimited to transistor devices nor to RF devices and applies equally toother high power semiconductor devices, such as a high power RF ormicrowave integrated circuit, including for example two or more highpower transistor devices on the same substrate.

Referring firstly to FIG. 1, a traditional high power transistor device100 includes an active area or die 102, an input lead 104 and an outputlead 106 for enabling the device to be coupled to external components,capacitor devices 108, 109 as part of input and output impedancematching networks and wire bonds 110, 111 coupling the active area 102to the capacitor devices 108, 109, wire bonds 112 coupling the activearea 102 to the output lead 106, and wire bonds 114 coupling thecapacitor device 108 to the input lead 104. Active area or die 102,capacitors 108 and 109 are attached on a metallic and conductive surface103. In some cases, capacitors 108 and 109 may be formed on the samesemiconductor substrate as the active area 102.

FIG. 2 shows a simplified equivalent electrical circuit diagram of thepart of the high power transistor device 100 shown in FIG. 1. The wirebonds 114, 110 act as inductors 214, 210 in an input impedance matchingnetwork 200 which also includes capacitor 108. The wire bonds 111 and112 act as inductors 211, 212 in an output impedance matching network202 which also includes capacitor 109.

FIG. 3 is a schematic cross section diagram of part of the high powertransistor device 100 of FIG. 1. The active area or die 102 and thecapacitor 109 are both attached (for example, soldered) to the metallicand conductive surface 103. The active area or die 102 includes regionsand/or layers of various materials that provide the transistor functionsrepresented by transistor 220 in FIG. 2 of the power transistor device100. Wire bonds 111 provide a connection between the active area or die(for example, the drain region of the transistor device 220) and thecapacitor 109. The wire bonds 111 provide an inductive part of theoutput impedance matching of the device 100.

As the power at which the transistor device 100 operates increases, theimpedance of the power device decreases and thus, for high powerdevices, improved performance can be achieved by arranging for theimpedance matching to start close to the active area 102 of the device100. This means that the variations in inductance of the wire bonds 110,111 and 112 have a bigger effect on the impedance matching thanvariations in the wire bonds 114. In addition, connections to the leads,like wire 114, can be made very short in practise so that theirvariations in inductance are negligible.

As discussed in the introduction, the inductance of the wire bondsdepends on the configuration of the wire bonds: that is, the height, thelength, the shape of the wire bonds and the coupling between adjacent orneighbouring wire bonds. The actual value of the inductance of the wirebonds in the manufactured device may vary due to for examplemanufacturing variations and this can affect the impedance matching inthe device 100. In order to ensure reliable device performance, themanufacture of the wire bonds, particularly those which are used asimpedance matching components, should be controlled accurately.

Referring now to FIG. 4 which shows part of an example of a high powersemiconductor device 400 for wireless applications in accordance with anembodiment of the disclosure. The high power semiconductor device shownin FIG. 4 comprises a semiconductor substrate 402 including an activearea 404 of the high power semiconductor device. In the example shown inFIG. 4, the high power semiconductor device 400 is a RF power transistordevice wherein the active area 404 includes regions and/or layers ofvarious materials formed in the semiconductor substrate 402 that providethe transistor functions represented by the transistor symbol 406 inFIG. 4 of the power transistor device 400.

In an example, a conductive layer 425, such as a metallic layer, isprovided on a bottom surface of the semiconductor substrate 402 and themetallic layer 425 is soldered or otherwise coupled to a conductivelayer 403. The conductive layer 403 may be a metallic flange of the highpower transistor device. The metallic layer 425 may be a ground plane.

As described herein, high power devices include devices capable ofoperating at power levels greater than 5 Watts and for wirelessapplications operating at frequencies from a few MHz to several GHz.

The high power semiconductor device 400 further comprises contactregions 408, 409 formed on the semiconductor substrate providingcontacts to the active area of the high power semiconductor device. Thecontact region 408 shown in FIG. 4 may be, for example, a drain contactregion and contact region 409 may be a gate contact region. Each of thecontact regions 408, 409 may comprise a metal contact pad formed on atop surface 410 of the semiconductor substrate 402. The high powersemiconductor device 400 may further comprise doped regions (not shown)formed in the semiconductor substrate 402 extending from the contactregions 408, 409 at the top surface 410 to provide improved ohmiccontact. The high power semiconductor device 400 further comprises adielectric layer 412 formed over a part of the semiconductor substrate,a or at least one lead (for example, lead 500, and/or lead 502 shown inFIG. 5) for providing an external connection to the high powersemiconductor device 400 and an impedance matching network 510, 512formed on the semiconductor substrate 402 between the active area 404 ofthe high power semiconductor device and the lead 500, 502. The impedancematching network 510, 512 includes conductor lines 414, only one ofwhich is shown in FIG. 4, formed on the dielectric layer 412 and beingcoupled to the contact regions 408 for providing high power connectionsto the contact regions 408 of the active area 404 and having apredetermined inductance for impedance matching.

In the example shown in FIG. 4, the conductor line 414 is electricallyconnected to the contact region 408 by means of an opening or via 418formed through the dielectric layer 412 extending to the contact region408. Conductive material, such as a metal, formed in the opening 418provides a conductive region for coupling the conductor line 414 to thecontact region 408.

The high power semiconductor device 400 may further comprise a shieldinglayer 416 formed between the semiconductor substrate 402 and thedielectric layer 412 to reduce EM losses through the semiconductorsubstrate 402. In an example, the shielding layer 416 is a metalliclayer, such as an aluminium layer, having a thickness around 1 micron.The shielding layer 416 may be formed on the top surface 410 of thesemiconductor substrate 402 using the same process steps as those usedfor the top metallization for the high power semiconductor device 400(e.g. the metal 2 process which is used to form the contact regions) orthe same process steps as those used to form the conductor lines 414.The shielding layer 416 may or may not be connected to the bottomconductive layer 425. In some cases, by connecting the shielding layer416 to the bottom conductive layer 425 which acts as a ground plane, theisolation of the semiconductor substrate 402 from the conductor linescan be improved which helps to reduce EM losses.

In the example shown in FIG. 4, the impedance matching network furthercomprises another impedance matching component formed on thesemiconductor substrate 402 between the lead 500, 502 and the contactregions 408. The conductor line 414 extends at least between the contactregions 408 and the impedance matching component. In an example, theimpedance matching component includes a capacitor formed on or as partof the semiconductor substrate 402 and represented by the capacitorsymbol 422. The conductor line 414 provides a connection between thecontact region 408 of the active area 404 and a contact region 420 ofthe capacitor 422. It will be appreciated that the conductor lines 414may provide high power connections between the contact regions 408 ofthe active area 404 and at least another component of the impedancematching network and/or the lead 500, 502 which provides an externalconnection to the high power semiconductor device for enabling thedevice to be coupled to external components. Thus, the conductor lines414 extend over a portion of the top surface 410 of the semiconductorsubstrate 402 and do not extend beyond or outside the top surface of thesemiconductor substrate. The extent of the portion will depend onwhether the conductor lines 414 are formed between just the contactregions 408 and other components of the impedance matching network orare formed between the contact regions 408 and the lead 500, 502 or areformed between the contact regions 408 and other components of theimpedance matching network and between the other components of theimpedance matching network and the lead 500, 502. Although not shown inFIG. 4, conductor lines formed on a dielectric layer in similar mannerto conductor lines 414 and being coupled to the contact regions 409 ofthe active area 404 may provide high power connections between thecontact regions 409 and components of impedance matching networks and/ora lead which provides an external connection to the high powersemiconductor device. The dielectric layer 412 may or may not cover theactive area 404 of the device 400.

In order to reduce the losses through the dielectric layer 412 and thesemiconductor substrate 402 and the losses through the conductor lines414 at high powers, configuration parameters of each of the dielectriclayer 412 and conductive lines 414 are chosen so that the Q factor ofthe conductor lines 414 may exceed 40 at powers greater than 5 Watts andat 2 GHz with, for example, at least one of the conductor lines havingan inductance of less than 1 nH (nano Henry). The configurationparameters of the dielectric layer 412 which have an impact on the Qfactor include, for example, the thickness 413 of the dielectric layer412, the permittivity of the material which forms the dielectric layer,and the loss tangent of the dielectric layer 412. The thickness isdetermined, for example, by simulation. The configuration parameters ofthe conductor lines 414 which have an impact on the Q factor include,for example, the area of the conductor lines 414 (e.g. the thickness415), and the resistivity of the material which forms the conductorlines. As an example, the material of the conductor lines 414 is chosenso that the resistivity is as low as possible. The thickness isdetermined, for example, by simulation. Requirements for theconfiguration parameters of the dielectric layer 412 and conductivelines 414 may vary as a function of the resistivity of the semiconductorsubstrate 402,

In an example which will be described in more detail below, thedielectric layer 412 may be formed on a silicon substrate and maycomprise a layer of SU-8 dielectric material (a negative, epoxy-type,near-UV photoresist based on EPON SU-8 epoxy resin that is supplied byMicroChem Inc) having a thickness of greater than 60 microns and theconductor lines 414 are formed from copper and with at least oneconductor line having a thickness of greater than 30 microns. In such acase, a Q factor of 40 at 2 GHz may be reached even on a very lowresistivity semiconductor substrate (less than 0.05 ohm cm) and forpower levels in excess of 100 Watts.

FIG. 5 is a simplified perspective view of an example of a high powersemiconductor device 400, part of which is shown in FIG. 4, inaccordance with an embodiment of the disclosure prior to the finalprocessing steps which may include encapsulation and packaging. In theexample shown in FIG. 5, the high power semiconductor device comprisesan input lead 500 and an output lead 502 which provide externalconnections to the device 400, impedance matching network 512 formedbetween the input lead 500 and the active area 404 of the device 400,and impedance matching network 510 formed between the active area 404 ofthe device and the output lead 502. In an example, the impedancematching networks 510 and 512 are connected to the contact regions 408,409 (shown in FIG. 4) of the active area 404 by means of conductorlines, such as lines 414 of FIG. 4. Due to the inductance of heconductor lines 414, the conductor lines 414 are components of theimpedance matching networks 510, 512. The impedance matching networks510, 512 may each further include at least one other impedance matchingcomponent such as capacitor 422 shown in FIG. 4 and/or further conductorlines, like conductor lines 414. The impedance matching components mayinclude, additionally or alternatively to capacitors 422 formed on thesemiconductor substrate 402, other components not shown in FIG. 5, suchas further capacitors formed on the substrate 402. In the example shownin FIG. 5, the impedance matching networks 510, 512 are connected to theinput 500 and output 502 leads via wire bonds 504 and 506 respectively.However, as discussed above the conductor lines 414 may provide highpower connections between the contact regions of the active area 404 andother impedance matching components of the networks 510, 512 and/or theinput 500 and/or output 502 leads.

The connections between the impedance matching networks 510 and 512 andthe input 500 and output 502 leads are located further away from theactive area 404 of the device and thus, have no or little impact on theimpedance matching. In addition, these wires can be made very short,which further reduces their impact. Thus, wire bonds can be used forthese connections or as discussed above, these connections may also beformed by conductor lines or by other means. However, the conductorlines 414 do not extend beyond or outside the top surface 410 of thesemiconductor substrate 402.

As an alternative arrangement to wire bonds, an example arrangement (notshown) may have the lead extending over a portion of the top surface ofthe semiconductor substrate of the high power semiconductor device andbeyond or outside the top surface to provide an external connection. Theportion of the lead overlapping the semiconductor substrate may then becoupled to the semiconductor substrate, for example to the impedancematching network (e.g. the conductor lines or other components of theimpedance matching network) which network is coupled to the contactregions. The coupling between the lead and semiconductor substrate (e.g.the impedance matching network) may be via ribbons, bumps (e.g. as inflip chip arrangements) or by a force (e.g. pressure) holding the leadin contact with a component of the impedance matching network or by anyother suitable coupling means.

Each conductor line, such as conductor line 414 used in the impedancematching networks 510 and 512 in FIG. 5 has a certain inductance, asindicated by the inductor symbol used in FIG. 4. Thus, the conductorlines are used as connections to the active area 404 of the device andalso as inductance impedance matching components which, with otherimpedance matching components (such as the capacitors 422) if used,provide impedance matching. The conductor lines are thus arranged tohave a predetermined inductance for impedance matching. Thepredetermined inductance provided by the conductor lines 414 may dependon the number of the conductor lines used, the shape of each conductorline as it extends over the dielectric layer 412, the size of eachconductor line (e.g. the width and length of each conductor line) andthe nature and thickness of the dielectric layer 412. As an example, atleast one of the conductor lines 414 may have a predetermined inductanceless than 1 nano Henry. The predetermined inductance of at least one ofthe conductor lines 414 may be in the range of 100 pH (pico Henry).

FIG. 6 shows examples of different shapes that may be used for theconductor lines 414 of FIG. 4 as they extend over the dielectric layer412. Conductor lines 602 are connected to the active area 604 of thesemiconductor device 600. The shape used may be selected to optimise thecoupling between adjacent conductor lines to provide the predeterminedinductance. As is well known, the coupling between wires and lines canhave an impact on the performance of a device. Typically, in order tooptimise device performance, the configuration of adjacent wires orlines is arranged such that the coupling between adjacent differentwires or lines is increased or decreased depending on requirement.Similarly, coupling between wires of different functionality andcarrying different currents or signals can be adjusted as needed toimprove device performance. For example, for the power semiconductordevice designated by reference 606 in FIG. 6, at least two adjacentconductor lines 602 are situated in close proximity and havesubstantially the same shape such that the conductor lines 602 extendtogether in an s-shape serpentine path across the dielectric layer. Theclose proximity of the conductor lines 602 and the s-shape serpentinepath are used in this example to increase the coupling between theconductor lines 602.

An example of a method of forming a high power semiconductor device forwireless applications in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosurewill now be described with further reference to FIGS. 7-11. Forsimplicity, only the formation of conductor lines on a dielectric layerfor coupling to contact regions of the active area of the device will bedescribed. It will be appreciated that other steps used in themanufacture of a power semiconductor device, such as forming the activearea of the device, are well known and so will not be described furtherherein.

As shown in FIG. 7, a semiconductor substrate 700 is provided includingan active area of a high power semiconductor device. The active area isindicated by the reference numeral 702 in FIG. 7. In an example when thehigh power semiconductor device is a RF power transistor device, theactive area 702 includes regions and/or layers of various materialsformed in the semiconductor substrate 700 that provide the transistorfunctions. The semiconductor substrate described herein can be anysemiconductor material or combinations of materials, such as galliumnitride, silicon carbide, gallium arsenide, silicon-on-insulator (SOI),silicon, monocrystalline silicon, or any other type of semiconductormaterial, and combinations of the above. A doped region 704 may beformed in the semiconductor substrate 700 extending from a surface 706of the semiconductor substrate 700. In an example and as shown in FIG.7, a passivation layer 708, which may be a silicon nitride or similarlayer, is formed over the surface 706 of the semiconductor substrate 700to act as an insulator and is patterned and etched to provide an opening710 extending to the doped region 704. Metal is then deposited into theopening 710 so as to provide a contact region 712 which provides acontact to the active area 702. It will be appreciated that althoughonly one contact region is shown in FIG. 7, a plurality of such contactregions 712 may be formed over the surface 706 of the semiconductorsubstrate 700.

A dielectric layer 714 is then formed over the semiconductor substrate700 and contact region 712, FIG. 8. The dielectric layer 714 may beformed from a layer of dielectric material such as SU-8 which is anegative, epoxy-type, near-UV photoresist based on EPON SU-8 epoxy resinthat is supplied by MicroChem Inc. and which may be spun-on or grown onthe semiconductor substrate 700. Other dielectric materials may be used,such as positive photoresist material.

When conductor lines are formed close to a semiconductor substrate, EMlosses, due to dielectric losses though the semiconductor substrate andto ohmic losses of the conductor lines, can significantly impact deviceperformance. In order to reduce EM losses through the semiconductorsubstrate 700, the dielectric layer 714 is arranged to be a thick layer.In an example which uses a silicon substrate having a relatively lowresistivity of 10 milliohm cm, the dielectric layer 714 may have athickness 715 of greater than 60 microns. The minimum thickness of thedielectric layer 714 which is required to ensure that the device meetsthe performance requirements based on EM losses (e.g. the Q factor ofthe inductors formed by the conductor lines is high enough) can dependon the material of the semiconductor substrate 700. If the resistivityof the semiconductor substrate 700 can be increased, the thickness ofthe dielectric layer can be reduced. Thus, for different substrates thedielectric layer 714 may not need to be as thick as 60 microns.Dielectric materials other than SU-8 which can provide thick dielectriclayers may be used instead. For example, a dielectric layer comprisingan air gap or a plurality of air gaps formed in a material may be used.

As shown in FIG. 9, the dielectric layer 714 is then patterned andetched to provide an opening or via 716 extending through the dielectriclayer 714 to the contact region 712. A plurality of openings 716 areformed at locations across the semiconductor substrate 700 whereconnections to the active area 702 are to be made. Conductive material720 is then formed in the openings 716, FIG. 10. The conductive materialmay include a metal such as copper, gold, aluminium or metal alloy, andmay be formed by deposition, evaporation, sputtering plating byelectrolytic or electroless processes or other similar techniques. Inorder to ensure that the conductive material 720 once it has been formedin the opening 716 is level with a top surface 718 of the dielectriclayer 714, the conductive material 720 can be lapped to provide a cleanconductive region 720 extending through the dielectric layer 714. Otherprocesses can be used to provide the same result.

A mask (not shown), such as a photoresist mask, is then formed over thesemiconductor substrate 700. This mask is used to define the location ofthe conductor lines over the semiconductor substrate 700, whichconductor lines are to provide high power connections to the contractregions 712 of the active area 702 by means of the conductive regions720. A conductive material is then formed on the dielectric layer 714 inthe locations defined by the mask to form the conductor lines 722. Theconductive material may include a metal such as copper, gold, aluminiumor metal alloy, and may be formed by deposition, evaporation,sputtering, plating by electrolytic or electroless processes or othersimilar techniques. In an example, the conductor lines 722 are printedon the dielectric layer 714 and are formed of copper and at least one ofthe conductor lines has a thickness 724 of greater than 30 microns.Thicker conductor lines have reduced resistivity which reduces the EMlosses due to ohmic losses and thus improves device performance (e.g. byincreasing the Q factor of the inductors formed by the conductor lines).

Thus, the conductor lines 722 are formed on the dielectric layer 714 andare coupled to the contract regions 712 of the active area 702 by theconductive regions 720 to provide high power connections to the contactregions.

In an example having a dielectric layer 412 comprising an air gap or aplurality of air gaps, further steps may be performed to remove part orall of the SU-8 dielectric layer 412 so as to provide a dielectric layerwith a plurality of air gaps or an ‘air’ dielectric layer.

FIG. 12 is a graph showing the variation of the Q factor at 2.5 GHz of a35 micron conductor line formed on a 60 micron SU-8 dielectric layer andextending in a serpentine shape (such as the conductor lines shown inthe device 606 of FIG. 6) across the dielectric layer a distance. Curve140 represents the simulated Q factor and curve 142 represents themeasured Q factor. From FIG. 12, it can be seen that Q factors in therange of 40 at 2 GHz can be obtained which is in line with therequirements for high power RF transistor devices at powers of greaterthan 5 Watts.

Thus, the high power semiconductor device described above usesintegrated conductor lines formed on a semiconductor substrate toprovide connections to the active area of the device and to act asimpedance matching components for impedance matching and thus, avoidsthe need to use wire bonds for at least the connections to the activearea of the device. By integrating or printing the conductor lines on asemiconductor substrate, the manufacture of the conductor lines issimpler and more easily controllable (e.g. the tolerances are muchsmaller and parameters such as thickness of the lines can be more easilycontrolled) compared to forming wire bond connections. For example, asshown in FIG. 6, different shapes can be achieved more easily forprinted conductor lines compared to wire bonds to optimise the couplingbetween adjacent conductor lines. Since the manufacture of the conductorlines is more easily controllable compared to the manufacture of wirebonds, it is easier to meet higher specifications for device performanceand reduce the performance variability from device to device compared todevices which use wire bonds connections to the active area.Furthermore, the use of conductor lines formed on a semiconductorsubstrate makes it easier to combine the high power semiconductor devicewith other components (e.g. switching components, digital components)compared to devices which use wire bonds where more complex wiring maybe required.

In an example, the conductor lines are formed on a thick (greater than50 microns) dielectric layer and at least one is thick, having athickness greater than 30 microns, which reduces the EM losses andresults in the conductor lines having a high Q factor at high power andover frequencies ranging from a few MHz to several GHz.

It will be appreciated that the invention may be used in any wirelessapplications, such as RF or microwave, such as telecommunicationapplications, radar applications, heating applications, medicalapplications, where there is a need for high power semiconductor devicesthat have low loss and meets the requirements for impedance matching.

In the foregoing specification, the invention has been described withreference to specific examples of embodiments of the invention. It will,however, be evident that various modifications and changes may be madetherein without departing from the broader scope of the invention as setforth in the appended claims.

The conductors as discussed herein may be illustrated or described inreference to being a single conductor, or a plurality of conductorscarrying similar or different currents or signals. However, differentembodiments may vary the implementation of the conductors. As a functionof an application's, current handling capability requirement, availablespace and coupling strategy, a plurality of conductors may be replacedwith a single wider conductor. Likewise, single conductors may beseparated out into various different conductors carrying subsets of thesignal.

However, other modifications, variations and alternatives are alsopossible. The specifications and drawings are, accordingly, to beregarded in an illustrative rather than in a restrictive sense.

In the claims, any reference signs placed between parentheses shall notbe construed as limiting the claim. The word ‘comprising’ does notexclude the presence of other elements or steps then those listed in aclaim. Furthermore, Furthermore, the terms “a” or “an,” as used herein,are defined as one or more than one. Also, the use of introductoryphrases such as “at least one” and “one or more” in the claims shouldnot be construed to imply that the introduction of another claim elementby the indefinite articles “a” or “an” limits any particular claimcontaining such introduced claim element to inventions containing onlyone such element, even when the same claim includes the introductoryphrases “one or more” or “at least one” and indefinite articles such as“a” or “an.” The same holds true for the use of definite articles.Unless stated otherwise, terms such as “first” and “second” are used toarbitrarily distinguish between the elements such terms describe. Thus,these terms are not necessarily intended to indicate temporal or otherprioritization of such elements. The mere fact that certain measures arerecited in mutually different claims does not indicate that acombination of these measures cannot be used to advantage.

1. A high power semiconductor device for operation at powers greaterthan 5 watts for wireless applications comprising: a semiconductorsubstrate including an active area of the high power semiconductordevice; contact regions formed on the semiconductor substrate providingcontacts to the active area of the high power semiconductor device; adielectric layer formed over a part of the semiconductor substrate; alead for providing an external connection to the high powersemiconductor device; an impedance matching network formed on thesemiconductor substrate between the active area of the high powersemiconductor device and the lead, wherein the impedance matchingnetwork includes conductor lines formed on the dielectric layer andbeing coupled to the contact regions for providing high powerconnections to the contact regions of the active area, the conductorlines having a predetermined inductance for impedance matching.
 2. Thehigh power semiconductor device according to claim 1, wherein theconductor lines have a Q factor which is greater than 40 at deviceoperating powers of greater than 5 Watts and at 2 GHz, with thepredetermined inductance of at least one of the conductor lines beingless than 1 nano Henry.
 3. The high power semiconductor device accordingto claim 1, wherein the conductor lines extend between the contactregions of the active area and the lead.
 4. The high power semiconductordevice according to claim 1, wherein the impedance matching networkfurther comprises another impedance matching component formed on thesemiconductor substrate between the lead and the contact regions,wherein the conductor lines extend at least between the contact regionsand the impedance matching component.
 5. The high power semiconductordevice according to claim 4, wherein the impedance matching componentincludes a capacitor formed on the semiconductor substrate.
 6. The highpower semiconductor device according to claim 1, wherein each of theconductor lines is arranged to have a predetermined shape extending overthe dielectric layer, wherein the predetermined shape is selected tooptimise the coupling between adjacent conductor lines so as to controlthe inductance of the conductor lines and provide the predeterminedinductance.
 7. The high power semiconductor device according to claim 1,wherein the conductor lines extend over a portion of a top surface ofthe semiconductor substrate and do not extend beyond the top surface ofthe semiconductor substrate.
 8. The high power semiconductor deviceaccording to claim 1, further comprising conductive regions extendingthrough the dielectric layer to the contact regions for coupling theconductor lines to the contact regions.
 9. The high power semiconductordevice according to claim 1, further comprising a shielding layer formedbetween the semiconductor substrate and the dielectric layer.
 10. Thehigh power semiconductor device according to claim 9, further comprisinga conductive layer formed on a bottom surface of the semiconductorsubstrate and wherein the shielding layer is coupled to the conductivelayer.
 11. The high power semiconductor device according to claim 1,wherein at least one of the conductor lines has a thickness greater than30 microns.
 12. A method of forming a high power semiconductor devicefor operation at powers greater than 5 watts for wireless applicationscomprising: providing a semiconductor substrate including an active areaof the high power semiconductor device and contact regions formed on thesemiconductor substrate providing contacts to the active area of thehigh power semiconductor device; forming a dielectric layer over part ofthe semiconductor substrate and contact regions; forming an impedancematching network on the semiconductor substrate; and forming a lead forproviding an external connection to the high power semiconductor device,wherein the impedance matching network is formed between the active areaof the high power semiconductor device and the lead, and wherein formingan impedance matching network comprises forming conductor lines on thedielectric layer coupled to the contact regions for providing high powerconnections to the contact regions of the active area, the conductorlines having a predetermined inductance for impedance matching.
 13. Themethod according to claim 12, wherein forming a plurality of conductorlines includes printing the plurality of conductor lines on thedielectric layer.
 14. The method according to claim 12, furthercomprising selecting configuration parameters of the dielectric layerand the conductor lines such that the conductor lines have a Q factorwhich is greater than 40 at 2 GHz, with the predetermined inductance ofat least one of the conductor lines being less than 1 nano Henry,wherein the configuration parameters of the dielectric layer includepermittivity of material forming the dielectric layer, a thickness ofthe dielectric layer and the loss tangent of the dielectric layer, andthe configuration parameters of the conductor lines include resistivityof material forming the conductor lines and a cross-section area of theconductor lines.
 15. The method according to claim 14, wherein theselecting configuration parameters of the dielectric layer and theconductor lines is dependent on resistivity of material forming thesemiconductor substrate.
 16. The method according to claim 12, whereinforming conductor lines comprises forming conductor lines on thedielectric layer extending over a portion of a top surface of thesemiconductor substrate and not extending beyond the top surface of thesemiconductor substrate.
 17. The method according to claim 12, furthercomprising forming a shielding layer between the semiconductor substrateand the dielectric layer.
 18. The method according to claim 17, furthercomprising forming a conductive layer on a bottom surface of thesemiconductor substrate and wherein the shielding layer is coupled tothe conductive layer.
 19. The high power semiconductor device accordingto claim 3, wherein each of the conductor lines is arranged to have apredetermined shape extending over the dielectric layer, wherein thepredetermined shape is selected to optimize the coupling betweenadjacent conductor lines so as to control the inductance of theconductor lines and provide the predetermined inductance.
 20. The methodaccording to claim 13, further comprising selecting configurationparameters of the dielectric layer and the conductor lines such that theconductor lines have a Q factor which is greater than 40 at 2 GHz, withthe predetermined inductance of at least one of the conductor linesbeing less than 1 nano Henry, wherein the configuration parameters ofthe dielectric layer include permittivity of material forming thedielectric layer, a thickness of the dielectric layer and the losstangent of the dielectric layer, and the configuration parameters of theconductor lines include resistivity of material forming the conductorlines and a cross-section area of the conductor lines.